The Cowtown 10K that almost wasn't.

Yesterday's adventures at the Cowtown Health & Fitness Expo were followed today by adventures at the Cowtown 10K race.

Now, the weather wasn't really cooperating with us - it was thunderstorming and flashing all sorts of pretty lightning all over the place when we got to downtown Fort Worth.  This necessitated my twin and I to wear very fashionable rain ponchos as we walked to the starting line and while waiting in the packet pickup hall due to the 10K race being delayed by 1.5 hours.

We iz so beautiful.

We also got to traipse through the expo again, hitting up the Bai booth for a quick stupid picture and huge bottles of free water.

As a consequence of having to wait an extra hour and a half to run and bringing no extra snacks with me, I got hungry.  Good thing they were passing out these free boxes of marathon-themed cookies for me to nosh on and take selfies with.

MOO

Anyhoo, the race did manage to go on and then we headed outside into the grey crappy morning surrounded by the intensely art deco Will Rogers Memorial Center buildings and the new Dickies Center under construction.

My goal for the race was to run it in just under an hour, and as you can see below, mission was freaking accomplished.  And you can see that I finally realized in mile 5 that I should slow the you-know-what-that-begins-with-an-F-and-is-a-really-bad-word down because I'm running a marathon tomorrow.

And I also accomplished getting a cool 10K medal with a little guy designed in 1979 that spins around because 40th anniversary.

And for my last accomplishment, some learnings:

• I meant to write this long hilarious post about this 10K, but then I made the mistake of checking my email and was working all afternoon and evening.  We'll never know the post that could have been--so sad.
• This was a well-organized event.  I am impressed as a first-time runner.
• Unlike the Austin marathon, this course is flat with a few hills rather than hilly with a few flat areas.
• I did start out way too fast today, and I'll likely pay for that tomorrow.  It's a good thing I have a small dog to help me recover.

Hooman.  This is how you recover.  Not by
writing stupid blog posts.

Tomorrow's workout: Cowtown Marathon!!

Just another marathon expo with lots of tie-dye.

So I completely forgot to tell everyone that I was running a marathon this weekend.

So hey-I'm running a marathon this weekend!  The Cowtown Marathon, to be specific, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Or the Cowtown Marthon, according to the race guide.

In the past I've run the Austin Marathon this time of year, but I decided to go for something different for this February.  And by "different" I mean "a marathon that isn't so damn hilly and makes me want to cry by mile 12."

So the twin and I (she's running the half) headed into Fort Worth today to grab our race packets and spend too much money at the expo.  It was held at the Will Rogers Memorial Center, which is a collection of mostly cool old 1930's art deco buildings that look like they came straight off a cover of an Ayn Rand novel with old timey murals painted on them.

This place also gave me the opportunity for a selfie with old Roy Rogers himself.

After admiring the architecture and the statues, we made our way into the expo to grab our bibs and our race shirts.  Packet pickup was quick and painless (mainly because we were there on Friday, not Saturday), and the expo, while not as large as I would have thought it would be, offered a wide variety of things I wanted to buy, most of which I could not because I am not independently wealthy.   It even included a booth that sold beef jerky, cheese, and sausage because, well, Texas:

Twin sis is actively purchasing some beef jerky goodness in the
center of this pic.

I did manage not to overspend too much, but I simply HAD to have that new Roo sport pouch, those cushy recovery sandals, and that freaking awesome tie-dye marathon sweatshirt:

TIE-DYE GOODNESS

Please note the other two shirts in that picture.  The one on the left is the official "Sunday finisher shirt," and the one on the right is the "Saturday finisher shirt."  I got both since I am racing on both Saturday (a 10K) and Sunday (the marathon).  And you'll further notice the tie-dye sides on the Sunday finisher shirt and the tie-dye edges to both of the race bibs.

All I can say is that I fully support any race that uses that much tie-dye.  I can also support all of the post learnings listed below:

• You probably noticed that I didn't work out today.  I decided to take an actual rest day with a marathon and such this weekend.
• I have no plans on actually racing either of the races this weekend - just running them both for fun and to photobomb other runners' race photos to ruin them.
• How can you NOT be excited about this much tie-dye?!?!
• I am not excited, however, about the thunderstorms that may cancel the 10K tomorrow morning.  We will see.
• I'll try to get video and pics during the race tomorrow for your viewing pleasure; keep an eye out on Twitter, Insta, and FB!

Tomorrow's workout: Hopefully 10K-ing it in downtown Fort Worth!